Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen begins 3-year jail term

New York [USA]: Michael Cohen, former lawyer of US President Donald Trump, on Monday, began serving a three-year prison term for federal crimes including charges of tax evasion and campaign finance violations. Cohen is set to serve his sentence at Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville, a prison in the countryside situated 70 miles northwest of New York City.

“There still remains much to be told and I look forward to the day that I can share the truth,” The Hill quoted Cohen as saying while speaking to reporters outside a hotel here before travelling to the prison. The 52-year-old attorney, who once said that he would “take a bullet” for Trump, attacked the US President, saying that he hoped that “the country will be in a place without xenophobia, injustice and lies” after he finished his prison sentence.

The beginning of the three-year jail term marked a rapid fall for Cohen, who served as a top official in Trump’s business activities. He also played a key role in Trump’s entry to politics.

In November last year, Cohen pleaded guilty for lying to Congress about his efforts to help build a Trump Tower in Moscow in 2016 and violating campaign finance laws by facilitating payments to two women who accused Trump of having sexual encounters with them.

In December last year, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison by a New York court after he was found guilty of campaign finance crimes, amongst other charges, including tax evasion.

He was ordered to pay USD 1.39 million in restitution, forfeit USD 500,000 and cough up an additional USD 50,000 fine by the US District Judge William Pauley.

Cohen had told the court that he made the payments at the behest of Trump, who was then a presidential candidate for 2016 elections, in order to silence Daniels and McDougal about their alleged affairs with Trump.

Last month, the FBI had conducted a search at Cohen’s home, office, and hotel rooms and seized hundreds of documents and computer files, related to hush agreements of Daniels, pertaining to her alleged affair with Trump. The raids came as a part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential polls.

While testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Cohen had made shocking revelations regarding the Trump family during the 2016 presidential campaign, adding that he had his “suspicions” of Trump colluding with Russia during the 2016 elections.

He had also claimed that Trump lied about his involvement in the Trump Tower project in Moscow during the 2016 campaign.